Manor Motorsport’s Oliver Jarvis (Burwell, Cambridgeshire) ended the first of two days of official pre-season testing at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit, Kent, on top of the timesheets this afternoon, just dipping under the existing outright lap record.
Jarvis’ best lap of 43.824 seconds (100.72mph), six 100ths of a second inside reigning champion Mike Conway’s year-old record, saw him jump from third place on the timesheets in the morning session to head the field of 26 cars by just three 1,000ths of a second at the conclusion of the day’s Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin testing.
Second position overall, meanwhile, went to a surprise Formula Renault UK returnee - 2002 Junior Formula Ford Zetec Champion Ben Clucas (Reading). The 21-year old, at present unregistered for the championship and testing for category newcomer Nexa Racing, ended the day with a best time of 43.827 seconds, having originally gone quickest in the morning.
Dutchman Yelmer Buurman was third overall for Fortec Motorsport, just a single 1,000th of a second slower than Clucas, with Irishman Patrick Hogan fourth overall for Manor with a time of 43.885 seconds.
An unexpected fifth fastest time went to Chinese driver Cheng Congfu (Oxford), the Team McLaren Mercedes Formula One-backed driver returning to Manor for his second full season of Formula Renault UK action. His best lap of 43.955 seconds edged Fortec’s Swedish star Sebastian Hohenthal into sixth place by three 1,000ths of a second.
Formula Renault UK Winter Champion Stuart Hall (Halstead, Essex) was seventh fastest for Fortec, reigning ‘Graduate Cup’ Champion Sean McIntosh was eighth fastest for Team Firstair, Yorkshire ace James Jakes (Leeds) was just shy of the Canadian in ninth position and Team JLR’s Stephen Simpson (Enfield, Middlesex) rounded out the top 10.
Leicestershire teenager Craig Dolby (Melton Mowbray), meanwhile, made his official pre-season testing debut with Mark Burdett Motorsport and ended the day 15th overall with a time of 44.463 seconds – only sixth 10ths of a second outside Jarvis’ pace setting time.
Official Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin testing continues at the 1.22 mile Brands Hatch Indy Circuit tomorrow, Thursday, 10th March.
Full official testing times available at msttiming.com
For all the latest Formula Renault UK Championship with Michelin news visit the official Renault Sport UK website www.renaultsport.co.ukbuilt by Racecar
